


Kill or Be Killed

by medicatedsappho



Series: Savaging [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Desperation, Jakku, Murder, Starvation, Violence, first kill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-06
Updated: 2016-04-06
Packaged: 2018-05-31 14:22:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6473845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/medicatedsappho/pseuds/medicatedsappho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A human can go three weeks without food. Rey is not willing to put that theory to the test.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kill or Be Killed

She didn’t have a choice.

Most of the time it’s all she can do not to curl around that empty space inside her gut and sob until it stops hurting.

Crying would be a waste of water.

Rey’s fingers dig deep into her gut, trying to literally squash her hunger. Ten days. Ten kriffing days of gutting decaying old ships, of scrubbing the parts she _knew_ had to be worth SOMETHING until they shone, until her fingers cracked and bled from the agitation. Ten hauls, and Unkar had given her nothing. Not even so much as a quarter portion for her trouble.

She couldn’t take it.

She’d started feeling weak at day three. Day seven she’d nearly fainted, fallen from a height that would surely have killed her.

She’s been watching them for hours now. Crouched low against the sand, the sun long since set. They were alone, just like her. A little bigger than she was, but a bum leg. She’d watched their haul, watched the **windfall**  Unkar had gifted them.

Four full portions.

Her gut rumbled at the thought, she pressed her hand tighter to it, tensing her muscles in preparation.

She didn’t have a choice.

——

Ragged gasps burst in and out of her chest. There is blood splattered over her goggles, she can feel the stickiness of it soaking into her shirt as her fingers scramble to stuff the portions in her belt pouch, as she takes their knife, their tools, anything she could possible use before she runs.

She didn’t have a choice.

She’s still shaking once she’s safe inside her home. Her arms tremble as she measures out water to make the portion bread, badly enough that she nearly spills and has to put her canister down, calm herself before trying again. She’d come this far, she couldn’t ruin it now.

The portion bread tastes like ash in her mouth. She didn’t have a choice, she didn’t have a choice. She reminds herself over and over as she chews, as her stomach roils and rebels against the first nutrients its had in far too long. Four portions, that’s enough food to last her two weeks if she’s careful. She would be careful. She couldn’t— wouldn’t let herself fall into a situation like this again. She would never be without a choice again.

——

Her hands do not shake. Her movements are quick, but practiced, cutting the purse, taking the headlamp and tossing sand over the body before she leaves.

It had been thirteen days, nearly two weeks, and her last quarter of a quarter portion was gone.

She didn’t have a choice.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm entranced by the more savage aspects of Rey. Also my first fic so? Yay?


End file.
